Rome, April 13: Europe's highest active volcano, Italy's Mount Etna, erupted again on Thursday.
The eruption - which spewed blood-red molten lava and grey and white ash into the air - is the 24th in a series that started in January 2011.
The Sicilian volcano has erupted three times in the past month, with regular 12 day pauses.
The main eruption is located at the south-eastern crater, not far from Zafferana Etnea village, but so far Italian authorities have not issued any warning of danger to houses and people.
The south-eastern crater, born in 1971, has been the most active in recent years.
In the recent past, lava flows have mainly damaged properties, but due to its slow speed the lava has not killed anyone.
Heavy ash emissions sometimes force the closure of nearby Catania International Airport.
For now, the airport remains open.
Mount Etna, has erupted for the fifth time this year.
Hot lava and ash spewed from the top into a valley nearby on the Italian island of Sicily.
The eruption happened on Sunday morning at 4am local time for more than an hour and a half.
Although the area around the volcano was covered by ash, it didn't affect planes travelling near it.
Air traffic can be seriously affected when ash from volcanic eruptions is in the air.
In 2010, the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland erupted and flights in Europe and across the Atlantic were cancelled because the ash particles in the air made it unsafe to fly.
The top five biggest volcanic eruptions
1 - Mount Tambora
This is one of Indonesia's 100-plus active volcanoes. Its eruptions in 1815 rocked the world with after-effects.It caused disease and harmed the growth of crops in the surrounding regions, and caused climate changes as far away as North America.It killed over 90,000 people.
2 - Mount Krakatoa
Another of Indonesia's volcanoes, its eruption in 1883, killed over 35,000 people mainly due to resulting tsunamis.
There were a series of extremely violent explosions over a few months and the biggest could be heard more than 2,000 miles away in Australia.
3 - Mount Pelée
The worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century is considered to be the eruption of Mount Pelée in 1902.It was on the island of Martinique in the Caribbean and it killed around 30,000 people.
4 - Mount Ruiz
Mount Ruiz in Columbia, South America, had two destructive eruptions in 1985.A mixture of mud, ash, and water raced down the volcano's slope through river channels.The mud almost totally buried a town 30 miles from the volcano, killing around 25,000 people.
5 - Mount Vesuvius
In Italy in AD 79, this volcano devastated the nearby cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.Thousands of people are thought to have died and the remains of many people were preserved by the ash.Since then, it has erupted several times, most recently in 1944.
